Locals call the inner harbor of beautiful historic Annapolis “ego alley.” Captains of sleek, throaty cigarette boats and other “conspicuous consumption” boats, not a few of which are beamy graceless expressions of their owners’ desire for admiring attention, ritualistically circle the inner harbor to show off “their stuff.”
Annapolis is more of a sailor’s town than a power boater’s town. There is a sailing culture that has a certain civility that powerboaters often sneer at as they leave the inner harbor, throttle up their engines and head into the Chesapeake Bay. Too many seem unaware or worse, uncaring, that wakes of speeding powerboats can change the vertical alignment of sailing vessels, causing their sails to dump their wind.
The narcissism that wafts across the waters of Annapolis’s ego alley brings to mind the corporate narcissism we see so much of in traditional marketing as companies show off “their stuff” with too little understanding of what consumers’ really need and want.
But this is changing. Marketers will increasingly find greater success by acting less like powerboaters slicing their way through their watery environments paying little heed to others. They will learn that the sailor’s mindset works better in today’s markets than the powerboater’s mindset.
Reflect a moment on differences between power boating and sailboating: Except in extreme conditions, powerboaters can ignore the forces of wind, wave and current, and reach their destinations. However, sailors can only reach their destinations by collaborating with the forces of wind, wave and current.
“Powerboat” marketing is more exploitive than collaborative. Separating consumers from their money takes precedence over collaborating with consumers to meet their needs. Consummate focus on meeting quotas set by higher-ups forces marketers and salespeople to sell customers things whether or not they need them.
However, a new ethos is forming that will transform marketing into a business art that is more like sailing than like powerboating. That’s what I’ll talk about next.
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